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MANILA – In­fla­tion will likely slow in May from the pre­vi­ous month due to lower food prices, giv­ing space for mone­tary au­thor­i­ties to prop up eco­nomic growth, the fi­nance depart­ment said Mon­day.

The con­sumer price in­dex likely rose 3.2 per­cent in May from 3.4 per­cent in April, as food in­fla­tion likely slowed to 3.8 per­cent from 4.2 per­cent, Fi­nance un­der­sec­re­tary Gil Bel­tran said in an eco­nomic bul­letin.

The Bangko Sen­tral ng Pilip­inas said last week it ex­pected in­fla­tion in May to come in be­tween 2.9 per­cent to 3.7 per­cent. Of­fi­cial num­bers are due out on

IAN PAUL CORDERO/PN

A fish ven­dor at the Iloilo City Ter­mi­nal Mar­ket looks af­ter his stall af­ter re­mov­ing scales from the milk­fish he’s sell­ing.